


You, Again

by catnip



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: M/M, Reunions, caleb missed that man and wants him to know he is adored, self indulgent and unrepentant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-07
Updated: 2018-07-07
Packaged: 2019-06-06 13:47:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15196073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/catnip/pseuds/catnip
Summary: A moment between Fjord and Caleb, reunited after too long apart.





	You, Again

**Author's Note:**

> We are gonna have so long you guys, so long to suffer until the party is whole again. And until then I am going to go wild imagining all the heartfelt and emotional reunions possible for this loveable group of misfits. Got bit hard by this particular bug by no fault of my own, the blame firmly rests with other parties. They know who they are!! Unbeta'd so all mistakes are my own.

It took too long. That’s what it had felt like every day, every step of the journey to find their lost friends again. A constant drip of guilt that spurred him on as much as it dragged him down. It frayed the edges of his memory, a usually perfect thing, clouding it and leaving him questioning if the days counted were the truth. Sometimes it felt like too many, and others not enough, the gulf of separation stretching into something approaching eternity. 

The silent trek away from the prison and into the cover of the wilderness outside seemed to stretch things further still. The need to touch, hear, see itched under Caleb’s skin as they made their way through the dark, but not yet. They were not safe yet. They could not risk things yet, not when they were so close. All he could do was silently clench the hand in his tighter and tighter. Far too long nails dug into his palm and the pinch kept him grounded.

“There!”

Nott’s shrill voice rang out in the night, too loud and too sudden. Caleb flinched at the sound. But she was right – there was the cart, hidden and ready to take them on the second leg of their escape.

The group gathered around the cart, a wave of voices bursting forth now that they had a moment to truly reunite. There was so much they all needed to say, words and hugs jumbling altogether in a mess. Fjord was saying something, maybe not even to him, but Caleb paid that no mind as he was only focused on closing the already small gap between them. He leaned in close as their bodies would allow and pressed a crushing kiss to his lips, cutting off unheard words.

A soft sound drifted from the back of Fjord’s throat as he returned the gesture. Surprise, contentment, amusement. Caleb couldn’t decipher it, the sensation of Fjord there and real too heady to let him focus. He wanted more, everything, too much, but he reigned his thudding heart in. Hands trembled as he pulled away and placed them on the side of Fjord’s face. 

“Hello.”

“Hello, Caleb.”

The sound of his voice sent another tremble through his nerves. It seemed rougher than he remembered. From disuse, or time apart simply playing tricks on him?

The light from the moon shone weakly – though well timed for their rescue he cursed it now – and Caleb strained his eyes to take in as much as he could about the face now before him again. The length that had been added to Fjord's hair was what he first noticed. Not so long that it yet needed to be tied back, but changed enough that Caleb could not resist reaching up and running a hand through it. Small tangles caught his fingers along the way and he gently worked through them. Enjoying the feel of the threads against his skin, the softness of sides no longer shaved so close. He could see the lines upon his face, somehow deeper than he remembered, skin drawn tighter. Smudges there that he could not place as dirt or bruise. So he told himself it was only tricks played by shadows, brushed away all the scenes in his imagination that had kept him awake and kept him furious all this time. Fjord was here. The past could wait, just for a moment, this once. Fjord was here, and it might be impossible for Caleb to tear himself away from that. He though he has missed him, all this time, but the pain pricked him with renewed strength. Sweeter but no less sharp this time.

Caleb took his time, more time than should be spared. And Fjord took the attention with his usual patience, simply letting him touch and stare as he liked. Caleb hoped that meant Fjord had missed him just as much.

He let his fingers drift, the skin under them warm and rough as he swept across his cheeks, over the line of his jaw, up to his lips -

“Ah. So that is what I felt.”

He could feel the bumps far more clearly now than he had during their kiss, and as Fjord’s expression shifted he could see the pair glint dimly in the low light. Two small tusks, still much unlike the kind that most orcs sported, but longer than Fjord had ever worn them in his time with the group.

“Not much chance for dental work these past weeks.”

It was phrased as a joke, but Caleb heard the uncertainty there. Fjord shifted just so slightly away but Caleb chased him, decided he would always chase him, hands holding firm and not ready to let go just yet. 

“They are as handsome as I thought they would be. As handsome as the rest of you, certainly.”

Fjord’s quiet huff settled somewhere between amusement and reproach. “Handsome’s going a little far, don’t ya think? Pretty sure the only time in my life I’ve been more a mess was when I washed up on that beach.”

There it was again, the uncertainty. The doubt. Just there on the edge of his voice. Now Caleb let his hands slip down to the front of Fjord’s shirt. The fabric was thin and gritty under his grip. Too worn like he feared the rest of its owner was. He felt thankful again that they had managed to recover the few personal items the trio had when they were taken.

“No. I do not think so.”

He moved in close again. The angle he desired was awkward, but felt right, head tilting so he could leave another kiss at just the right spots at the corners of Fjord’s mouth. The slight rise made by each tusk pressed firmly to his lips, one and then the other. He fumbled slightly to find his way in the darkness, but his desire outweighed the tickle of anxiousness that lived ever at the back of his mind. It usually did with Fjord.

“I will tell you the truth, Fjord. Do not find it too sappy, but, I do not think you have ever looked more beautiful.”

A soft breath chased him and warmed his skin as he pulled back away to see Fjord again. The look he found in his eyes made Caleb want to shrink away from the intensity of it, made him want to kiss him again.

“I did not know if I would see you again. So, how does that saying go, you are a sight for sore eyes?”

“Got it in one.” The smallest smile tugged at Fjord’s face, his voice thick.

Caleb nodded, finally having to look away, hands tapping Fjord’s chest lightly. “Ja. Ja. But here you are.” He could feel his throat growing tight and he willed himself to keep silent now, to keep a personal promise to not burden someone only recently free. But the hand Fjord slipped against his neck was heavy and real and he could do nothing but think of how much he came close to losing. Something so recently gained and so recently lost. “I did not know. I thought every day, you know, that I would not see you again. That I would not be able to make things right. There are many things in my life that I must answer for, and you, Fjord, I did not want- you cannot be-”

“S’alright Caleb." The words cut through his babbling, keeping him from wandering even further away from his own control. "You’re here. You don’t have to do a damn thing else for me, understand? We’re both here.”

Fjord’s voice strained just as painfully as Caleb's own had when he spoke, but there was a familiar surety there than had been missed these long days. Arms wrapped around him, and Caleb let himself sag into them. He felt the thrum of Fjord under him, his breath and blood and heartbeat. A comfort sorely needed. As he returned the embrace he hoped it was the same for Fjord. Poured all of himself into the touch and hoped that he could hold the weight of him whenever Fjord needed.

“Ja. We are here. And I do not plan to let you go again.”

**Author's Note:**

> fun fact: i couldn't find a way to work it seamlessly into the story, but i imagine that this is still early on in the relationship between fjord and caleb. and that kiss was, in fact, their first. why do i tell you this? because i enjoy the good kind of pain in life and enjoy spreading it :,) catch me [on tumblr](http://depmode.tumblr.com/) if you wanna yell about widofjord, or CR in general.


End file.
